JPH0452732Y2 - - Google Patents

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] [Industrial application field] The present invention relates to a light control element using an electrochromic (EC) material, and in particular, a terminal that can conductively connect with high reliability and allow a large current to flow. The present invention relates to a light control element having:

[Prior art] Conventionally, in display devices (ECD) and liquid crystal display devices (LCD) that use EC materials, transparent electrodes formed on the inner surface of the substrate are used as terminals for external connections, and metal It was used by laminating conductor materials such as or attaching pins.

[Problems to be solved by the invention] It was thought that the terminal structure of LCDs and ECDs could be applied to dimming elements, but as the area of dimming elements became larger, The current that flows has become significantly larger than that of LCDs and ECDs, causing voltage drops and uneven coloring and fading.

This is because while EC materials originally have memory properties, they require a large current to change color and decolor.In addition, in light control elements, the EC material layer is formed solidly over almost the entire surface. Since a large area is required, the current becomes extremely large. Furthermore, since the EC material represented by WO ₃ is normally driven at a low voltage of about 1.5V, when a current on the order of several hundred mA to A is passed, the voltage drop at the terminal will disappear. Serious problems have arisen, such as a decrease in color speed and differences in coloring/decoloring speed in some areas, resulting in unevenness.

[Means for solving the problem] The present invention was made in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, and consists of arranging two electrode-attached substrates so that their electrode surfaces face each other, and sealing the periphery. An electrochromic material layer is formed on at least one of the electrode-attached substrates, and in a dimming element in which an electrolyte is sandwiched between the pair of electrode-attached substrates, the electrode-attached substrates are arranged with a shift from each other. and an end portion that is not opposed to another substrate with an electrode is formed, and the end portion has an inclined surface formed between the inner surface and the side surface of the substrate, and the inclined surface or the side surface is formed between the electrode and the electrode. This is a light control element characterized by being laminated with a conductive material having a higher conductivity.

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an example of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of the upper left end thereof.

1 is an external conductor, 2 is a mounting frame, 3A, 3B are conductive materials, 4A, 4B are transparent electrodes, 5 is an EC material layer,
6A and 6B are substrates, 7 is a sealing material, and 8 is an electrolyte.

In this example, the substrates 6A and 6B are arranged offset in the left-right direction, and sloped surfaces 9 are formed at the ends of the substrates that do not face each other, and the sloped surfaces 9 and side surfaces 10 are A layer of conductive material and a layer of transparent electrode are laminated on a substrate.

By adopting such a structure, the outer conductor 1
The transparent electrode on the side surface of the substrate can be connected with good reliability, and the connection can be made not only by simple contact, but also by using soldering or a conductive adhesive.

Although it is not obvious from this diagram, the layered structure of conductive material and transparent electrodes is adopted along the edges in the depth direction of the diagram, making it possible to apply a uniform voltage across the entire width in the depth direction. becomes.

The substrate used for the electrode-attached substrate of the present invention is a transparent substrate made of glass, plastic, etc., and if transparent electrodes such as In ₂ O ₃ , SnO ₂ , etc. are formed on the inner surface, inclined surfaces of the edges, and side surfaces. good. Of course, when used as a reflective type, a reflective electrode may be used as one electrode.

This inclined surface is formed at the end of the substrate that does not face another substrate, and is preferably formed at an angle of about 45° with respect to the inner surface.
It may be 30° or 60°, it may form two sloped surfaces with different angles, or it may form an arc-shaped sloped surface, so that the inner surface and side surface are connected at an angle less than 90°. It would be fine if it was set to .

In the present invention, a transparent electrode and a conductive material are laminated on at least one of the inclined surface and the side surface, and in the example shown in FIG. 1, the transparent electrode is formed on the conductive material. This conductive material is nickel,
It can be laminated with transparent electrodes by fixing metals such as copper, chromium, aluminum, etc. by vapor deposition, plating, etc., or by attaching and baking conductive pastes such as silver, copper, carbon, etc., or by attaching glass solder, etc. .

The transparent electrode and the conductive material may be laminated on at least one of the inclined surface and the side surface, but it is preferable that the transparent electrode and the conductive material be laminated on both sides for higher reliability. Of course, the lamination may extend to the inner surface, as long as short circuits do not occur between the electrodes of the opposing substrates.

Note that it is preferable from the viewpoint of both reliability and resistance that the connection portion with the external conductor has a laminated structure.

The connection with the external conductor is generally made on the side surface of the substrate as in the example shown in FIG. 1, but it may be made on the inclined surface or may be made using both surfaces.

The length by which the boards are shifted relative to each other to form this inclined surface is normally the same as the thickness of the board, specifically about 0.5 to 2 mm. The effective area that can be dimmed by the board can be increased.

The electrodes such as transparent electrodes formed on the inner surface of this substrate are
It may be designed as appropriate so that the EC substance can be quickly colored and decolored and its transparency is not significantly reduced.
It is usually estimated to be around 2,000 to 10,000〓. Also, the conductive material laminated with this electrode may be a conductive material with higher conductivity than the electrode, and if it is a metal thin film, the conductive material is 0.1
~10μm, if it is a conductor paste, 5~ after firing
It may be about 100 μm. The EC substance can be used as long as it changes color or fades in the visible light range when a voltage is applied, and transition metal compounds such as tungsten oxide, molybdenum oxide, and iridium oxide, or organic EC substances can be used.

Electrolytes include solution-type electrolytes in which a specific electrolyte such as a lithium salt is dissolved in an organic solvent such as propylene carbonate, γ-butyrolactone, or butyl alcohol, and gel electrolytes in which resins such as polyvinyl butyral are dissolved in polymeric electrolytes. Electrolytes,
A collective electrolyte using a lithium compound can be used.

However, when used as a light control element like the one in the present invention, it is preferable to use a gel-like electrolyte, which makes it difficult for opposing electrodes to come into contact with each other even when the area is large, and the electrolyte does not scatter even if the substrate is damaged. This is preferable because it makes it difficult to do so.

The EC material layer may normally be formed on the transparent electrode by vapor deposition, sputtering, solution coating and baking, or the like.

A counter electrode is formed on the other substrate facing the substrate on which the color-changing EC material layer is formed. Although it is preferable to use a transparent electrode for this counter electrode,
A reflective electrode may be used, or an EC material that is always transparent in the visible light range even when a voltage is applied to the transparent electrode may be stacked and used.

In the present invention, a transparent electrode and a WO layer are formed on one substrate, and a transparent electrode is formed on the other substrate, and the substrates are made to face each other, and a gel electrolyte, especially a gel electrolyte containing LiI, is used inside. preferable.

FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of the terminal portion of another example of the present invention, in which the inclined surface is made into two stages, the transparent electrode 4A,
This is an example in which a conductive material 3B is formed on top.

In the present invention, since the substrates do not face each other at the ends, it is extremely easy to attach a conductive material to the light control element after it is made into a cell with high productivity.

In addition, metal wires may be laminated in a thin line or lattice pattern on a part of the electrode, terminals may be formed in four directions by shifting the substrate in two directions, and tempered glass or laminated glass may be used as the glass. Alternatively, a UV cut film, a glass shatter prevention film, etc. may be laminated, and various other applications are possible.

[Function] In the present invention, since the terminals are formed on the shifted parts of the substrate, even if the conductive material and the electrode are stacked, short circuits will not occur with the opposing substrate, and the electrode and the conductive material can be stacked on the inclined surface and side surface. Since the LEDs are laminated and connected to the external conductor, reliable conductive connections are possible with low resistance, and dimming is possible over a large effective area.

[Examples] Example 1 A glass plate with a thickness of 1.1 mm was cut into a size of 10 cm x 10 cm, and one side thereof was tapered to form an inclined surface as shown in FIG. Copper was evaporated to a thickness of 2.5 μm to cover the slope and side surfaces to form a layer of conductive material. After further cleaning and drying, 2000Å of In ₂ O ₃ −SnO ₂ (ITO) was applied to cover the inner surface of the glass substrate and the copper layer on the slope and side surfaces of the terminal area.
A substrate with electrodes was obtained by vapor deposition.

This substrate with electrodes is used as a counter electrode substrate,
In addition, WO ₃ was evaporated onto the ITO of the same electrode-attached substrate.
The display electrode substrates with the EC material layer formed on the entire surface are placed facing each other, and a gel electrolyte (0.75M/) is placed inside.
A light control element was manufactured by sealing with an epoxy resin sealant so as to sandwich 30% polyvinyl butyral (gamma-butyrolactone dissolved in γ-butyrolactone).

At this time, the boards were sealed by shifting the terminals by 1 mm so that they did not overlap with other boards.

This light control element can effectively utilize the area of the board excluding the seals at both ends and the 1mm terminal area, so it is possible to manufacture a light control element with a large effective area on a small board, and the conductive connection is reliable and low. It was possible with resistance.

Example 2 A light control element was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 1, except that the conductive material was coated with silver paste (Alzerite QD-404R, manufactured by Tamura Manufacturing Co., Ltd.) and fired.
This light control element also enabled conductive connection with good reliability and low resistance.

Example 3 A light control element was manufactured in the same manner as in Example 2 by applying a conductive material onto a transparent electrode and baking it.
This light control element also enabled conductive connection with good reliability and low resistance.

[Effects] The light control element of the present invention forms an inclined surface and is conductively connected to the external conductor on the side surface or the inclined surface.
The length of board displacement can be made extremely short,
In addition to increasing the effective area for dimming, the electrodes on the board and the conductive material with lower resistance are laminated on the slope and side surfaces, so there is almost no problem with disconnection, making for reliable and low-resistance conductive connections. This makes it possible to connect by simple contact, by hanging, or by using conductive adhesive.

In particular, the slopes and side surfaces of substrates such as glass are often rougher than the inner surface, but since electrodes and conductive materials are laminated even on uneven surfaces, there is less worry about peeling or disconnection. Since the inner surface and side surface are connected at an obtuse angle by the inclined surface, there are fewer disconnections at corners.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a sectional view of an example of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a partially enlarged view of an end thereof. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged view of another example of the present invention. 3A, 3B... Conductive material, 4A, 4B... Transparent electrode, 6A, 6B... Substrate.

Claims (1)

[Scope of utility model registration request] Two substrates with electrodes are arranged so that the electrode surfaces thereof face each other, the periphery is sealed, an electrochromic material layer is formed on at least one of the substrates with electrodes, and a layer of electrochromic material is formed between the pair of substrates with electrodes. In a light control element formed by sandwiching an electrolyte, the substrates with electrodes are arranged so as to be shifted from each other to form an end portion where another substrate with electrodes does not face, and the end portion is located between the inner surface and the side surface of the substrate. 1. A light control element characterized in that an inclined surface is formed between the electrode and the electrode and a conductive material having higher conductivity than the electrode is laminated on the inclined surface or the side surface.